Will new accounting of church abuse finally get NY Senate to pass Child Victims Act?

A letter written by the former Vatican ambassador to the U.S. is raising questions about whether the pope knew about sexual misconduct allegations against the former archbishop of Washington, Theodore McCarrick, but rehabilitated him anyway. (Aug. 27)
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In New York and around the world, the Catholic Church's handling of sex-abuse allegations against clergy is, again, facing intense scrutiny.

Many are likely wondering: Why now? Has there been a spate of new allegations against priests?

The answer is no. In fact, fresh allegations of recent abuse have plummeted in most American dioceses, particularly since the nation's bishops approved in 2002 a "zero tolerance" policy regarding priests who commit sexual abuse (although there have been egregious exceptions).

Instead, the confluence of two major events — the release of a startling grand jury report in Pennsylvania and the fall of a prominent cardinal — has prompted a top-to-bottom re-examination of the Catholic Church's record on abuse going back decades. It's become clear that many American dioceses never provided a full, honest accounting of how they covered up abuse or protected predator priests.

So we're seeing unprecedented support for clearing up the record on abuse — and starting at the top, with the actions, or non-actions, of bishops.

In New York, state Attorney General Barbara Underwood has subpoenaed all eight of New York's Catholic dioceses as part of a major investigation into the handling of sex abuse. Her office has also created an online complaint center and a telephone hotline for victims and witnesses to come forward. It's telling that Albany Bishop Edward Scharfenberger has requested that the Albany County District Attorney also investigate, indicative perhaps of a growing acceptance that it's time for the truth to come out.

New York state Attorney General Barbara D. Underwood has subpoenaed all eight Catholic dioceses in the state.(Photo11: Hans Pennink, AP)

This new period of catharsis is the perfect time for the state Legislature to finally pass the Child Victims Act, which would allow victims of abuse suffered under the age of 18 to seek justice years later, as adults. Right now, New York law prevents victims from proceeding with criminal cases once they turn 23. But many victims don't come to terms with their abuse, or decide to seek justice, for some time.

The latest version of the legislation would allow the filing of criminal charges until a victim is 28 and would allow victims to file civil actions until they are 50. It also includes a one-year "look back" window, which would give victims of past abuse one year to file civil lawsuits and is opposed by potentially vulnerable organizations like the Catholic Church, Orthodox Jewish groups, the Boy Scouts and the insurance industry.

The Republican-controlled Senate has not allowed the Child Victims Act to reach the floor for a vote. Maybe international condemnation of the Catholic Church's past mishandling of crimes against minors will shake the bill free.

What led to this condemnation? Most important was last month's grand jury report in Pennsylvania, which described, often in lurid detail, allegations against more than 300 priests who had abused more than 1,000 minors over seven decades. The report hammered home the moral failings of bishops who put the prevention of scandal before the protection of victims. But it's important to note that only two priests named in the report were accused of committing abuse over the past decade.

It seems that the Pennsylvania report was the primary impetus for Underwood and attorneys general in at least four other states to start probing dioceses in their jurisdictions.

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Pope John Paul II embraces newly created Cardinal, Theodore McCarrick, at the Vatican in 2001.(Photo11: Copyright, The Journal News 1999;Yes)

But then there's the fallout from the Cardinal Theodore McCarrick scandal, which could be from the pages of a Dan Brown page-turner.

The retired archbishop of Washington was removed from ministry in June over allegations that he had abused seminary students and an altar boy. Then a former Vatican ambassador to the U.S. charged in an open letter that Pope Francis and several American bishops covered up for McCarrick, largely to support a gay cabal in the hierarchy. Bishops began attacking one another, primarily along pro-Francis, anti-Francis lines, but also exposing a deep conflict over the place of gay priests and bishops in the church.

The pope met Thursday at the Vatican with top U.S. bishops to discuss the McCarrick sandal — as he also opened an investigation into a West Virginia bishop accused of harassing adults — and plans a February synod of bishops from around the world toaddress the "protection of minors."

Whew. It's hard to keep up with the news. This may seem like quite a reckoning for the church.

This is a story, though, that really started back in the 1980s, when the National Catholic Reporter began uncovering sex abuse in the church. In 1985, the U.S. bishops received a report on clergy abuse, filled with warnings about what went wrong in the 1960s and '70s. But, as we now know, few bishops acted until the abuse crisis of 2002 ignited in Boston.

The Pennsylvania grand jury report filled in many gaps from the past, which Underwood and others will continue to do. And the McCarrick scandal may bring to light the failings of popes, cardinals and bishops, although it's hard to imagine what changes transparency might bring to the Vatican. Reforming how the Catholic hierarchy operates is probably not a task for mortals.

There is much more to come, including divisions over who's at fault. The one point on which many seem to agree is that the only way for the Catholic Church to move on is to get to the bottom of it all.